Active Safety Measures

The operation of process plants nowadays is monitored and controlled largely by PCE equipment, which is employed at all the levels of Fig. 4.1. 

The practical implementation of the protective measures is realized with the following (technical and/or organizational) elements  

All of these have to be successful in order to realize control or a protective measure. 

The filhng of a tank, which is shown in Fig. 4.8, serves as an example. 

When the nominal Uquid level is reached the level indicator (LIAH Level Indicator and Alarm High) gives an alarm. According to the operating manual the operator should then close the inlet valve and stop the pump. Should he not do this the liquid level would rise further and the instrument Level Switch and Alarm High High (LSAHH) would then close the valve and stop the pump automatically at a higher level. 

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All passive safety measures implemented in the vehicle are only capable of addressing the so-called primary collision (i.e., contact with the vehicle). For example, only about 6 % of pedestrians impact with the head on the hood, which limits the efficacy of measures implemented there [48]. Secondary collisions, i.e., contacts with the road surface or other objects, are not addressed by those measures. In contrast active safety measures address the entire sequence of events and as a consequence have a much higher injury avoidance potential [17,49]. Preventive systems are at the moment in the state of development or already in the market [48, 50-52],... 

Active Safety Measure Any means of implementing safety precautions which requires an individual to take some action, such as reading or comprehending. An example would be a warning sign indicating an unsafe or hazardous condition. 

Measurement of performance. Quality Management requires that measures of performance be established for every activity. These measures include end-of-pipe measurement, such as amounts of material released into the environment or injury rates, and in-process measures of how efficiently you are managing, such as time to review safety improvement proposals or total resources expended on PSM. Each team should be required to identify potential performance measures for the processes they are developing and the activities these processes manage. Many of the end-of-pipe measures will already exist these should be critically examined to ensure that they truly measure performance and are not unduly influenced by other factors. For example, the number of accidents in a fleet of road vehicles is almost directly dependent on the number of miles driven with no improvement in performance, a reduction in miles driven would reduce the number of accidents. 

Time and effort must be spent in preparing a site for the cleanup activity to ensure that response operations go smoothly and that worker safety is protected. Site preparation can be as hazardous as site cleanup. Therefore, safety measures should be afforded the same level of care at this stage as during actual cleanup. Table 16.11 presents the major steps in site preparation prior to any cleanup activities. 

The next Chapter will apply the 7-stage protocol pro-actively in three different case studies in the Dutch chemical process industry, identifying why hazardous situations still exist in the companies in spite of the enormous number of safety measures present. 

Industrial fire protection and safety engineers attempt to eliminate hazards at their source or to reduce their intensity with protective systems. Hazard elimination may typically require the use of alternative and less toxic materials, changes in the process, spacing or guarding, improved ventilation or, spill control or inventory reduction measures, fire and explosion protective measures - both active and passive mechanisms, protective clothing, etc. The level or protection is dependent on the risk prevalent at the facility versus the cost to implement safety measures. 

The Commission and the CSM also made recommendations on the introduction of many other broad safety measures. These included the Phen-acetin Prohibition Order (SI 1974/1082), presentation of medicines in relation to child safety (SI 1975/2000), and declaration of alcohol in medicinal products on their package as active ingredient where this is likely to be pharmacologically active. Other labelling issues culminated in an Order (SI 1976/1726) that set out the standard particulars that must be shown on the containers and packaging of medicinal products. Consultations on other generally applicable warnings on the labels of certain medicines to protect children and to ensure that... 

This has essential consequences for the design of emergency measures. A technical measure to prevent a runaway could be a temperature alarm set at, for example, 10 K above the process temperature. This works well with nth-order reactions, where the alarm is activated at approximately half of the TMRld. However, autocatalytic reactions are not only accelerated by temperature, but also by time. This can lead to a sharp temperature increase. In the case shown in Figure 12.2, a temperature alarm is not effective, because there is no time left to take measures in the example given, only a few minutes are left before runaway. Therefore, it is important to know if a decomposition reaction is of autocatalytic nature or not that is, the safety measures must be adapted to this type of reaction. 

Taking into consideration a) the specific properties of organoaluminum compounds, especially lower aluminumtrialkyls, and their hydride-, halo-gene- and alkoxy derivatives, which are highly flammable in air and explode at contact with water b) the use of hydrogen, ethylene, isobutene, ethylene, isobutene, ethylchloride, sodium and aluminum (finely dispersed and active, which can self-inflame in air), the production of organoaluminum compounds can be considered one of the most dangerous chemical productions. Therefore, safety measures and fire prevention are especially important. 

Organophosphorus compounds belong to the strongest known poisons. Their exceptional biological activity is caused by the suppression of a specific ferment, choline esterase, which is found in the body in very small quantities. Because of their high toxicity, the production of organophosphorus compounds requires special attention to safety measures. 

Although radiation has found applications in almost all aspects of human activities, most of the ionizing radiation that people are exposed to still comes from natural sources. The health effects of radiation are relatively well understood and can be effectively minimized through careful safety measures and practices. 

The above activity levels measured at Mururoa are comparable to the levels observed world-wide in the early 1980s (with the exception of a few specific sites). These concentrations result from earlier safety tests made on the motus in the northern zone of the atoll from 1966 to 1974, and from the cleanup work undertaken in the years 1981-1987. This work resulted in a great reduction of radioactivity on the ground, but produced a slight temporary increase of plutonium in the air. 

The SDU is used to treat secondary wastes from various activities, including general maintenance, equipment maintenance, worker safety measures, and sampling. Typical secondary waste streams treated are DPE suits and other personal protective equipment sampling equipment tools. 

In a radioanalytical laboratory, a number of safety regulations must be strictly observed. The first step should always be to make a calculation of the expected activity it is very important because it determines the type of laboratory needed and governs the safety measures and the waste disposal. It should always be considered whether the conditions can be changed in order to reduce the radioactivity or whether a short-lived radionuclide can be used instead of one with a longer half-life. 

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